Arise, children of the Fatherland, The day of glory has arrived! Against us tyranny Raises its bloody banner Do you hear, in the countryside, The roar of those ferocious soldiers? They’re coming right into your arms To cut the throats of your sons and women!

What does this horde of slaves, Of traitors and conjured kings want? For whom are these vile chains, These long-prepared irons? Frenchmen, for us, ah! What outrage! What fury must it arouse! It is us they dare plan To return to the old slavery!

What! Foreign cohorts Would make the law in our homes! What! These mercenary phalanxes Would strike down our proud warriors! Great God! By chained hands Our brows would yield under the yoke Vile despots would have themselves The masters of our destinies!

Tremble, tyrants and you traitors The shame of all parties, Tremble! Your parricidal schemes Will finally receive their reward! Everyone is a soldier to fight you If they fall, our young heroes, The earth will produce new ones, Ready to fight against you!

Frenchmen, as magnanimous warriors, Bear or hold back your blows! You spare those sorry victims, Who arm against us with regret. But not these bloodthirsty despots, These accomplices of Bouillé, All these tigers who, mercilessly, Rip their mother’s breast!

We shall enter the (military) career When our elders are no longer there, There we shall find their dust And the trace of their virtues Much less keen to survive them Than to share their coffins, We shall have the sublime pride Of avenging or following them

Children, let Honour and Fatherland be the object of all our wishes! Let us always have souls nourished With fires that might inspire both Let us be united! Anything is possible; Our vile enemies will fall, Then the French will cease To sing this fierce refrain:

Anthony McIntyre

Former IRA volunteer and ex-prisoner, spent 18 years in Long Kesh, 4 years on the blanket and no-wash/no work protests which led to the hunger strikes of the 80s. Completed PhD at Queens upon release from prison. Left the Republican Movement at the endorsement of the Good Friday Agreement, and went on to become a journalist. Co-founder of The Blanket, an online magazine that critically analyzed the Irish peace process.